Hall of Fame

James Holvay

James Holvay graduated from LT in 1963. At the age of 12, he bought his first guitar. At 13-years-old, he started his first band, called Jimmy and the Jesters. He began writing songs at age 15, and by age 19, he had more than 10 records released by other artists in the Chicagoland area. Immediately upon graduating from LT, Holvay began touring with a group called The Chicagoans, traveling to countless venues across the U.S. and Canada. He then worked as a permanent guitarist on the Dick Clark Rock and Roll Caravan of Stars tour and worked as a back-up artist for The Supremes, Tom Jones, Del Shannon and Gene Pitney. After touring, Holvay began his musical songwriting career, solo and co-writing songs that would continuously achieve national commendation. Holvay co-wrote four hits for The Buckinghams, who were named "The Most Listened to Band in America" in 1967 by Cashbox Magazine. All four songs reached hot-spots on the Billboard Magazine charts. "Kind of a Drag" climbed to #1 in 1967, remained #1 for two weeks and sold more than two million copies. "Don't You Care?" and "Hey Baby, They're Playing Our Song" reached the #6 and the #10 spot on the Billboard Magazine charts 1967; both played on airwaves about 1,000,000 times each. "Susan" reached #8 status in 1967 and #2 on the Canadian music charts in 1968.